1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to systems and methods for generating, storing and retrieving multimedia messages that may include audio, text documents, images, web pages (URLs) and video. In particular, the present invention relates to a system and method for providing remote access to such systems. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to a system and method that allows remote access to multimedia messages using conventional telephones and facsimile machines or other conventional display devices.
2. Description of the Background Art
The telephone and voice mail are basic communication tools whose use has become widespread. Audio communication provides the advantage of a rich medium in which expression as well as content can be conveyed. Voice mail systems in which the user is able to create, store, send, forward, and attach audio messages to others are well known, and are part of the communication tools used by many on a daily basis. One problem with such voice mail systems is that they provide for messaging only in the form of audio messages. Yet another shortcoming of voice mail systems is that the user is not given any context or other information for a voice message as can be provided with a graphical display. The only information such systems typically provide is how many messages are in a person""s inbox. In most cases, the user is not able to identify whom the messages are from, their duration or whether they are a string of several messages from different speakers. Therefore, in those instances when documents, web pages (URLs), video or other media are the best way to communicate, voice mail systems are unable to receive, send and store messages in these media.
Another tool that has become an integral part of one""s daily communication is e-mail. The use and proliferation of e-mail has become widespread because of the speed, cost and ease of use. Initially, e-mail messages were confined to being text only. Thus, e-mail provided only a form of written communication that was much faster than traditional mail. The development of e-mail now allows for the attachment of documents, video clips, audio clips, web pages (URLs) and other media. However, a continuing difficulty with e-mail is that these attachments are difficult to access. Moreover, they are not presented to the user in any meaningful way to convey their content or inter-relationship.
Even more significantly, e-mail that is able to provide such multimedia content can typically only be accessed using a system such as a personal computer. This makes it very difficult to be able to access e-mail when traveling or when a computer is not readily accessible. There are a variety of mobile devices such as wireless telephones, pagers and palm computing devices that attempt to provide remote access to e-mail, however, these devices are not able to effectively provide access to and display e-mail attachments.
Thus, there remains a need for a system and method that is capable of providing remote access to rich multimedia messages. Furthermore, there is a need for a system and method that allows the creation of multimedia messages remotely.
The present invention overcomes the deficiencies and limitations of the prior art by providing a system and method for receiving and creating multimedia messages. In one embodiment, the system includes an audio communication device, a visual output device, a remote access system and a multimedia message system. The audio communication device is coupled to the remote access system for bi-directional communication with the multimedia message system. The audio communication device is used to provide audio input and control signals, and also for receiving the audio portions of multimedia messages. The remote access system also couples the visual output device to the multimedia message system. The user receives visual portions of multimedia messages from the multimedia message system via the visual output device. The remote access system is coupled or may be part of the multimedia message system. The multimedia message system is capable of creating, receiving, storing and providing multimedia messages that may include audio, text documents, images, web pages (URLs) and video.
In one aspect of the invention, the multimedia message system has the capability to generate an image of the message in response to a user request and send that image to the remote access system, and then through the visual output device to the user. Furthermore, the image is augmented to include indices that the user may input via the audio communication device to perform specified actions with the various portions of the message. This functionality is particularly advantageous because it extends the usefulness of the multimedia message system so that it may be used for full access to the system""s capabilities with a conventional audio communication device such as a telephone.